CHARLES G. ADDISON, ESQ.
The history of the Knights Templars, Temple Church, and the Temple
page 137

ciiutiKjj ο» UNITY was opposed to the faith of the TRIKITY, and speedy min, i!DuTu87.' desolation, and destruction, overtook the miserable sons of baptism !" The cowardly patriarch Heraclius, whose duty it was to bear the holy cross in front of the christian array, confided his sacred charge to the bishops of Ptolemais and Lydda,*—a circumstance which gave rise to many gloomy forebodings amongst the superstitious soldiers of Christ. In consequence of the treachery, as it is alleged, of the count of Tripoli, who fled from the field with his retainers, both the Templars and Ilospitallers were surrounded, and were to a man killed or taken prisoners. The bishop of Ptolemais was slain, the bishop of Lydda was made captive, and the holy cross, together with the king of Jerusalem, and the Grand Master of the Temple, fell into the hands of the Saracens. " Quid plura ?" says Radulpk, abbot of the monastery of Coggleshale in Essex, who was then on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and was wounded in the nose by an arrow. " Capta est crux, et rex, et Magister militia* Templi, et episcopus Liddensis, et frater Regis, et Teuiplarii, et Ilospitalarii, et marchio de Montferrat, atque omnes vel mortui vel capti sunt. Plangite super hoc omnes adoratores crucis, et plorate; sublatum est lignum nostra salutis, dignum ab indignis indigne heu ! heu ! asportatum. VI E mihi misero, quod in diebus miserie vitœ mese talia
cogor videre Ο dulce lignum, et suave, sanguine filii Dei roratum atquc lavatum ! Ο crux alma, in qua salus nostra pependit! &c.+
" I saw," says the secretary and companion of Saladin, who was present at this terrible fight, and is unable to restrain himself from pitying the disasters of the vanquished—" I saw the nioun
* Rudulfih Cogylethale, an eye-witness, apud Marlene, toni. v. col. 553.
t Ctiron. Terra Sancta*, apud Marlene, torn, v, col. 558 and 545. A inert valuable history.

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